Game apparatus



Dec. 20, 1955 D, T HAWKES 2,727,746

GAME: APPARATUS Filed Feb. 16, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l slsll mez-Two onerwo l WIN WIN WIN W\N W\N \N\N WIN 4 6 START La L20 s OMI-TWO UNE TWO om-Two ONE -TWO F@ 2 3 f 6,1 #ff 1 fr snow snow snow snow snow sHow eHow"g'` mvsuron DOUGLAS 72 HAWKES ATTORNEYS Dec. 20, 1955 D. T. HAwKEs2,727,746

GAME APPARATUS Filed Feb.Y 16, 1953 2 sheets-snee1 2 INVENTOR oor/GLAST. Haw/ass AWA@ United States Patent O 2,727,746 GAME APPARATUS DouglasT. Hawkes, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Application February 16,1953, Serial No. 337,165

4 Claims. (Cl. 273-134) This invention relates to game apparatus foramusement purposes.

This game is intended to simulate racing, and it may represent racesbetween horses, cars, or any other racing animal or vehicle.

The game apparatus comprises, in combination, indiciadetermining means,a plurality of markers, anda game board having a plurality of coursesindicated thereon bearing indicia corresponding to those on theindiciadetermining means, and an elongated pointsor oddsindicating strippositioned at right angles to the courses. One or more playing areas maybe associated with the board and, if desired, they may form part of theboard.

For the sake of convenience, the game apparatus will be described inconnection with horse racing. Each marker represents a horse, and thereis a horse for each course on the board. The indicia-determining meansare used to determine the progress of each marker along its course,while each player indicates in the playing area the marker or horse hethinks will come in first, second or third in the race. Some means maybe provided for indicating the progress or lack of progress'of eachplayer in the game. For example, tokens, such as stage money, beans,matches, or the like, may be used by the players for the purpose ofplacing wagers on the horses. The odds-indicating strip is used todetermine the odds on the various horses in a manner lhereinafterdescribed. The arrangement of the above elements and the particularmanner of using the game apparatus will be understood bythe followingdetailed disclosure of the preferred embodiment illustrated in `theaccompanying drawings, in which,

Figure l isa plan view of a preferred arrangement of game board with oneend broken off,

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 22 showingone manner of holding the elongated odds-indicating strip to the gameboard,I v

Figure 3 is an example of a type of marker representing a racing animalor vehicle that may-be used on one of the courses as the game is played,and

Figure 4 shows examples of'playing cards that might be used with theapparatus as indicia-determining means.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawings, 10 is a game board formed of anysuitable material, such as paper, cloth, cardboard, wood, or thelike..This board is divided into a playing surface 11 and one or moreplaying areas 12, there being two of these areas illustrated in thedrawing. The playing surface 11 includes a plurality of parallel courses13, each of which is divided into an equal number of spaces 14. Eachcourse is identified by a suitable form of indicia which, in theillustrated example, is a numeral designated by the reference character15. The courses 13 represent the paths followed by horses in a race. y

A plurality of markers 18 are provided, see Figure 3, one for eachcourse 13. These markers bear symbols or indicia corresponding ,tokthose of the courses so that ice if the courses are indicated by thenumbers one to seven, the markers would also bear the numbers one toseven.

Each playing area 12 is divided into a plurality of sections, therebeing one or more of these sections for each course 13, and the sectionor sections for each course bear the identifying indicia of its course.For example, each of the playing areas may be divided into a pluralityof sections 20, one for each course, representing first or win, aplurality of corresponding sections 21 representing at least second orplace, and a plurality of sections 22 representing at least third orshow. Sections 20, 21 and 22 for course 1 and, consequently, horse ormarker 1, each bear the numeral l; sections 20, 21 and 22 for course 2and marker or horse 2, bear the numeral 2; and so on.

The pointsor odds-indicating strip Z5 extends across the playing surface11 of the game board at either end of the courses 13. This strip may bejust laid across the board, but it is preferably slidably held inposition thereon. For this purpose, one or more loops 26 may bepositioned on the surface of the board, in which case the strip slidablyextends under these loops. The strip is divided into a plurality ofsections 28 throughout its length, the width of each section beingsubstantially equal to the width of a course 13. Each section 28 has anumber 29 therein representing odds, as will hereinafter be more fullydescribed. One of the sections near the centre of the strip, forexample, section 30, bears one or two numbers which are higher thanthose of the other sections. In this example, section 30 includes thenumerals l0 and 15.

If desired, a plurality of additional sections 34 representing one-twosections may be placed on the board. In this example, the sections 34are located in the playing area l2 around the group formed by the othersections thereof. Each section 34 bears two numbers 35, such as l-Z,l-3, and the like.

As previously stated, indicia-determining means are provided forregulating the progress of the markers 18 along the courses 13. This maybe a spinning wheel, specially printed cards, or dice, or the like, eachbearing indicia corresponding to the indicia of the courses and markersor horses. As playing cards are readily available, it is preferable touse such cards as the indiciadetermining means. Figure 4 shows aplurality of cards 38 which may be used for this purpose. If the courses13 are designated by the numbers 1-7, allthe cards bearing the numbers l(ace) to 7 of at least two decks of cards are used. If cards from twodecks are used, there will be eight cards of each number, that is, eighttwos, eight threes, etc. As there are ten spaces 14 in each course 13 ofthe illustrated example, some way must be worked out to enable eachmarker 18 to move the full length of its course with the limited cardsavailable. For example, each heart or diamond card may call for a moveof one space for a marker, each club card a move of two spaces, and eachspade card a move of three spaces.

When a game is about to be started, the markers 1S with the numerals 1 7thereon are placed on the spaces at the beginning of the courses bearingthe corresponding numbers. The horses are now ready for the race.' Thedeck of cards 3S may be cut to indicate the position of the odds strip25. If a card bearing the number 5 is turned up, the section 30 of thestrip is placed opposite course number 5, as shown in the drawing. Therules of the game may be such that if the card cut is black, the odds towin would be fifteen to one, whereas if the card is red, the odds wouldbe ten to one. This means that if the horses indicated by marker 5 wereto win, these odds would be paid. This horse would be considered a longshot. Suitableprovision may be made in the rules for the odds if thishorse comes in second or third (place or Show), and these may be threeto one and two to one respectively. The indication of the long shot bythe odds-indicating strip as described above sets the sections 28opposite the other courses, thereby automatically setting the odds forthe horses of their respective courses should they win. With the strip25 in the position shown in Figure 1, if horse number 6 Were to win, theodds would be four to one, while they would be tive to one if horsenumber 2 came in rst. The place and show odds for the horses other thanthe long shot would also be set by the rules and may be two to one andone to one, respectively.

Before the odds are set by the strip 25, the players place their wagersin the desired sections 2t?, 21 and 22. For example, if a player betsthat number 3 horse will win, he would place his wager in the section 20bearing the numeral 3. On the other hand, if he thinks number 3 horsewill place or show, he will place his wager in the appropriate section21 or 22 bearing the numeral 3. A place wager wins if the horse comes inrst or second, and a show bet if the horse comes in rst, second orthird. If the player wishes to bet the one-two, he will place his wagerin a selected section. By this, he is designating the number-combinationof the two horses that will first cross the finishing line. For example,if he selects the section with 3-7 in it, this means he hopes thathorses 3 and 7 will finish first and second, but it does not matterwhich of these two horses comes in first and which comes second. Theodds for a Winning combination such as this will be set by the rules,and may be, say, sixteen to one.

The game may be played in various ways. One player may act as banker anddealer. Once all the wagers have been made and the odds determined bythe positioning of the odds tape, the dealer, after shuling the cardsturns them up one at a time. If a two of diamonds is turned up, markernumber 2 is moved forward one space along its course 13, if a ve ofspades is turned up, marker number is moved along three spaces in itscourse. This is continued until the first, second and third horsesarrive at the opposite end of their respective courses. The banker thencollects all losing wagers and pays off the winners in accordance withtheir selections and the odds of the race.

The banker may act on his own behalf or on behalf of all players. In thelatter case, the fund of the bank is made up by a contribution from eachplayer. The banker also places his own wagers, and if the bankaccumulates an excess of tokens, some of these may periodically bedivided amongst the players as dividends. Should the bank fund becomedepleted, the players would be assessed an agreed number of tokens torestore it. At the end of the game, the bank fund would be dividedbetween the players.

The winner of the game may be the player who has the most tokens at thetime another player has lost all of his, or at a predetermined timelimit, or at the end of the evening.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A game apparatus comprising, in combination, a game board having aplaying surface with a plurality of parallel courses bearing indiciathereon, each of said courses being composed of a number of markedspaces, indicia-determining means, the indicia on saidindiciadetermining means being the same as the course indicia,

markers for the courses bearing the indicia of the latter, and anelongated strip extending across said game board and transversely of thecourses near the end thereof, said strip being movable relative to thegame board and having numbers side by side thereon to indicate thepoints attributed to each course at a selected position of said strip inrelation to the courses, and the numbers of said strip being so arrangedthat when one is in line with a course, the others are aligned withother courses.

2. A game apparatus comprising in combination, a game board having aplaying surface with a plurality of parallel courses bearing indiciathereon, each of said courses being composed of a number of markedspaces, indicia-determining means, the indicia on saidindiciadetermining means being the same as the course indicia, a markerto be moved along each course, a plurality ot loops parallel to oneanother and connected to said game board, and an elongated stripextending across said game board and transversely of the courses nearthe end thereof, and held thereon by said loops, said strip beingslidable in said loops and having spaced numbers thereon arrangedlongitudinally of its length to indicate the points attributed to eachcourse at a selected position of said strip in relation to the courses,and the numbers of said strip being so arranged that when one is in linewith a course, the others are aligned with other courses.

3. A game apparatus comprising, in combination, a game board having aplaying surface with a plurality of numbered parallel courses thereon,each of said courses being composed of a number of marked spaces, a packof numbered playing cards, the numbers on said playing cards being thesame as the numbers on said courses, a marker to be moved along eachcourse, said markers bearing the numbers of the courses, and anelongated strip extending across said game board, said strip beingmovable relative to the game board and having spaced numbers thereonarranged longitudinally of its length to indicate the points attributedto each course at a selected position of said strip in relation to thecourses, and the numbers of said strip being so arranged that when oneis in line with a course, the others are aligned with other courses.

4. A game apparatus comprising, in combination, a game board having aplaying surface with a plurality of parallel courses bearing indiciathereon, each of said courses being composed of a number of markedspaces, indicia-determining means, the indicia on saidindiciadetermining means being the same as the course indicia, markersfor the courses bearing the indicia of the latter, and an elongatedstrip extending across the game board adjacent an end of the courses andbeing movable relative thereto, said stripV being divided into aplurality of sections bearing points-indicating numbers, and said stripbeing movable into different positions to place one of its sections atthe end of each course.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

